How many Roosters to how many hens?

[Navahogirl]

How many Roosters to a flock of hens should I have? I heard that it should be 1 Rooster to 12 hens?

 

[CluckerFamily]

I have 16 hens with one rooster.
My sister has 50 hens and three roosters.

 

[black_cat]

There is no set number, but if I personally was going to have a rooster, I'd have over 10 hens before getting one.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I think the ratio depends a lot on the goals.

For breeding (best fertility rates) 5-10 hens per rooster knowing the hens may be roughed up by mating and need saddles or a break.

For flock protection.....no rooster needed as dominant hens will also sound the alarm.

 

[ILoveBabySilkies]

It depends on the rooster himself I’ve had 1 roo and 6 hens and they did fine, no over mating no missing feathers in the hens nothing. You can have more hens and some roosters will still make some hens bare because they are his favorite or he just is really always ya know “in the mood”. So like I said it really depends on the rooster, for me I’d probably keep at least 8 hens.

 

[The Happster]

I have ratios of 1 cock to three hens, with no problem.
More the better, I suppose, but it depends on a lot of factors.

 

[ILoveBabySilkies]

I have ratios of 1 cock to three hens, with no problem.
More the better, I suppose, but it depends on a lot of factors.

Agreed, there really are a lot of factors at play.

 

[Sally PB]

I have one cockerel and three pullets. That wasn't the plan; newbie and straight run ignorance are at play here. So far it is working well, but I know that could change.

My plan is to get two or three more pullets next spring. Six or seven birds total is the max I'd like to have for my space. Chicken math may force me to enlarge my space.

 

[Rooapalooza]

The 'ratio' is not that useful of a rule, in my experience.

I once had two roosters and one hen (due to a predator attack). It was fine because the roosters were nice, and also the dominant rooster was a bantam who wasn't able to mate with the large hen. He wouldn't let the larger rooster mate with her either, so it ended up being the two roosters focused on each other while the hen hung out with them, lol.

I now have 4 roosters and about 12 hens, and it's fine. I used to have only one rooster with the same 12 hens and I had to kill him because he started bullying one of the hens pretty badly.
It's more about the personality than the number. A lot of roosters mate in the morning and evening and will leave the hens mostly alone during the day. Some roosters target specific hens, some are more amorous, some are gentle. Some are jerks no matter what you do, which you shouldn't tolerate. I've had hens who are jerks too but they get more leeway.

However, I free range in a large area. If I was keeping them in an area closer to the minimum (10sqft/bird) I might have different issues. Keep in mind that hens can be jerks too, and the smaller area you have the more you will have behavioral problems to worry about.

 

[aart]

I heard that it should be 1 Rooster to 12 hens?

The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.

It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.

Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc ....short term and/or long term.

It all depends on the temperaments of the cock and hens and sometimes housing provided.

Backyard flocks can achieve good fertility with a larger ratio.